


Ego te absolvo

by Girlpower



Category: Political RPF - US 21st c.
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 01:27:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10709259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlpower/pseuds/Girlpower
Summary: "You don't walk away if you love someone. You help the person."





	Ego te absolvo

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the middle of Lewinsky scandal. Timeline wise historically not accurate.

It was almost 2. Bill yawned. God it had been a long day. His head felt heavy, and he could feel the knots in his shoulder blades. He pushed himself back in his presidential chair and stretched out his legs beneath the Resolute Desk. He rubbed the bridge of the nose.

Not yet. Inspite of this weariness to the bone, sleep still eluded him. Bill dreaded going back to the residence. He knew the drill. He would lie on the couch and desperately try to drift in to the oblivion of sleep. But the ever consuming guilt that was his constant companion these days would raise its ugly head and shrill voices and screams would ring in his ear. So today his plan was to work till he would crash. Hopefully it would work.

Hillary softly treaded across the plush carpet of the West Wing. The lights had been dimmed and the busiest part of the White House was now eerily quiet. This had always been her favourite part of the White House much to the surprise of everyone. She loved its efficiency and importance. For the past 2 months she hadn’t put a foot in this part. But today after hours of tossing and turning in her bed, she found herself putting on a pair of sweats and reaching down here.

“Ma’am, you need something?” Kris’ soft voice reached her ears. She was completely taken by surprise at finding Bill’s body man near the coffee dispenser at this ungodly hour. She took in his red rimmed eyes, crumpled suit and the cup of coffee in his hands.

Hillary stepped up to him and took the cup from him, “You’re absolutely not having that cup right now Kris. Go home.” “Ma’am the President..” “I know but you’re going home. And trust me, you really don’t want to argue with me right now.” The kid’s eyes widened for a second but he relaxed when he saw smile forming at the corner of her lips.

“Thank you Ma’am.” She patted him, “Goodnight Kris.”

Hillary thought to knock but then decided against it and slowly pried open the door to the Oval. Bill was slumped on the sofa, deep in slumber. What a sight of the most powerful man of the free world, she mused. But he didn’t look particularly powerful right now. Instead he looked like a man practicing deep penance. Even his breathing was labored. It didn’t take her a second guess to know why Bill was up so late in the Oval even when there was no imminent national threat looming over. She had known this man for close to three decades. She had watched him repeatedly fighting his demons, and not always winning. But this time the casualty count was much higher. And she wondered if he could ever recover from this one.

She softly tapped him, “Bill!” He had always been a light sleeper, and immediately sat up. The sudden bolt made him woozy. Hillary instinctively reached out and steadied him.

Their eyes locked. For a moment Bill thought he was dreaming. Bill took in Hillary’s strained appearance- the bags underneath her eyes, hollowed cheeks and the skin stretched over her jaw. God, even her collar bones were showing. And those empty eyes. Definitely not a dream. He couldn’t hold her gaze any longer and looked down. His bottom lips quivered and he bit them.

Not a thing missed Hillary’s eyes. Her hand was still on his shoulder and she could feel his skin burning through the shirt. It was their first contact since the night of his confession in the bedroom. But she couldn’t make herself lose the contact just yet.

For the first time in a black and white world Hillary saw grey. In the past months she hadn’t once thought of her marital future because she thought it had been a foregone conclusion.

But now, for the first time, thin cracks appeared in her frozen heart. She pulled back her hand, and said softly, “Bill go to the residence.”

“Yeah,” he replied hoarsely. But Hillary knew better. She knew he had driven himself to the point of exhaustion where he had stopped functioning. She waited.

Bill found himself being led to the residence. He followed her blindly. Reaching the guest room his eyes turned to the couch.

“You are not sleeping in those clothes, William.” Soon he found a glass of water and the nightclothes pushed into his hands.

As he stepped out from the washroom he saw Hillary still sitting at the edge of the couch, clutching her hands, clearly uncomfortable. His heart again did a somersault. He wondered if a more wretched man than him existed on the face of the Earth.

She could see him dragging his feet. This has got to stop. If not anything else, very soon America would be led by a zombie of a President. She made a mental note of pushing back his schedule tomorrow by an hour.

She got up. “From tomorrow you’ll be back in the Residence by midnight.” “Okay” Bill rasped while pulling up his covers. “Goodnight Bill.” “G’night Hillary.”

Clutching the door knob she turned one last time. Bill lay uncomfortably sprawled on the couch but asleep nonetheless. She finally let the tear that she had been holding back so long, fall unhinged. But as she made her way towards her quarters she found a weight lifted of her chest she didn’t even know existed.

That night, two exhausted souls fell into a dreamless slumber in the most famous house in America.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Pardon the errors.


End file.
